Devices herein generally relate to conveyor belts and more particularly to vacuum belts used to transport sheets of material.
Many devices that transport sheets of material utilize conveyor belts. One common conveyor belt utilized within print media transport devices (such as printers, finishing equipment, etc.) is a vacuum belt. Vacuum belts have openings, holes, or perforations through which a vacuum force is applied and such vacuum force maintains the sheet in good contact with the conveyor belt.
Conveyor belt tracking is a common issue that exists, especially in large printers as well as other belt-based conveying systems. Also, more tracking issues exist with relatively stiff belts, when compared with more flexible belts; however, flexible belts have limitations, such as durability in high-temperature environments, etc. More specifically, conveyor belts operate more efficiently and experience less wear when they are properly aligned with the rollers that drive and support the belt. Conveyor belts that are regularly out of alignment can damage the rollers, the motors driving the rollers, and/or the belts themselves, dramatically increasing cost, decreasing reliability, and correspondingly decreasing customer satisfaction.